War Supporters Join the Protests in Countywide Rallies

In Ventura County’s first significant pro-war rallies, flag-waving demonstrators, brandishing signs that said “Nuke Iraq” or “Bomb Saddam,” crowded onto busy street corners Saturday and screamed for motorists to honk their horns for the troops.

More than 200 people, including Vietnam veterans, Boy Scouts and mothers toting young children, swarmed along the corner of Victoria Avenue and Telephone Road at the Ventura County Government Center.

“People should not be ashamed to say they do back war when necessary,” rally organizer Francie Blotke shouted over the din of demonstrators and honking horns. “We’re all just private citizens.

Blotke said she had heard callers to a radio talk show say they wanted to attend pro-war rallies but did not know of any in the area. On Friday, Blotke called the talk show and invited people to form a demonstration of their own. She also informed the offices of Reps. Robert Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) and Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) about the event.

“Most of my friends are peace protesters,” said one of the demonstrators, Geoff Nicolle of Ventura. “If I were over there, I would hate to hear news from home . . . that people weren’t supporting us.”

Meanwhile in Thousand Oaks, the intersection of Moorpark Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard remained its own battleground with peace activists and pro-war demonstrators waging a slogan-filled war of words across the roadway.

On one corner, Ali Dempsey, who was struck by a car during protests there earlier in the week, joined about 15 peace activists from the Conejo Democratic Club and an area chapter of the National Organization for Women. About 3 p.m., more than 40 high school and college students marched to the corner shouting for peace.

Several of the 25 supporters of the gulf war then convened on the median, waving large flags and chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A.”

“I want the boys to know that I’m proud that we’re there,” said Ginny Blankenship, a 51-year-old Newbury Park teacher who was waving a small flag. “I’m 100% behind our President’s actions and decisions over there.”

The American flag seemed to be a symbol for both sides Saturday, as a few peace activists tried to demonstrate their patriotism in response to criticism from pro-war demonstrators.

“It’s a shame that the flag has become a symbol of war rather than a symbol of free speech,” said Charlene Pizzadili, a 43-year-old homemaker from Simi Valley and a NOW member. Pizzadili, waving a flag in one hand and brandishing a peace sign in the other, said the clerk who sold her the flag had assumed she supported the fighting in the Middle East.

Christopher Franz, 27, of Thousand Oaks, who led the marching students, also waved the flag.

“I carry the flag on my right and the peace symbol on my left,” he said, holding up two fingers. “I don’t want the troops coming home thinking we’re down on them . . . calling them baby-killers like in Vietnam.”

His contempt, he said, is for the President.

“George Bush should grow up,” Franz said. “War is nothing but an adolescent fantasy. Fighting. You should cut that stuff out when you’re in high school.”

The peace activists spent much of the afternoon arguing their cause with the pro-war demonstrators who ventured across the street and motorists who stopped for debate.

Greg Ross, an insurance agent from Agoura Hills, watched the protest from the gas station across the street for a few minutes, then pulled his car to a parking lot near the activists. He argued his pro-war cause for more than 30 minutes while his family stirred restlessly beside him.

“Do you think by simply having peace in your heart that it will go away?” he asked. “What is your solution today about a man who has raped and pillaged another country?”

Dave Stoddard, president of the Conejo Democratic Club, cited injustices in this country, El Salvador, South Africa and China and cited the United States’ lack of involvement there. “What’s the difference between those places?” Stoddard, 60, of Westlake, asked rhetorically. “Oil.”

In a smaller demonstration Saturday in downtown Ventura, a group calling itself the God Bless Americans League protested in front of the Ventura Arts Council’s Momentum Gallery on Palm Street.

Protesters took exception to a work called “G.I. Jesus” in the gallery’s current exhibition of local artists’ responses to the war. The work by Ventura artist Doug Lipton includes a small statuette of Jesus wearing a combat helmet and several cherubs holding knives and guns.

“We feel that this is an inappropriate time to be displaying this kind of art work,” protest organizer Clara Davis said. One demonstrator carried an American flag, but Davis said the group’s main purpose is to protest “religious attack through art.”

Public response to the weeklong exhibit, which ended Saturday, was mostly positive, an Arts Council spokeswoman said.

The God Bless Americans League is not affiliated with a specific church, Davis said, but was formed in response to the gallery exhibition.

A group of about 10 war protesters also gathered at Saviers Road and Channel Islands Boulevard in Oxnard on Saturday morning, flashing peace signs and holding anti-war placards.

This was the fourth weekly protest of the Ventura County Coalition Against War in the Persian Gulf.

“War is no longer a viable way of solving problems,” Robert Holcomb, one of the coalition’s organizers, said. “We had a draw in Korea, we lost in Vietnam, and who knows what will happen now.”

At 75, Holcomb is a veteran of World War II and a retired political science professor from Los Angeles City College. “I’ve seen what war can do to people,” Holcomb said.

A few peace activists expressed disappointment with the low turnout Saturday. Organizers said some activists had traveled to Los Angeles for larger demonstrations, but that others among their groups had simply given up hope.

“People are very depressed,” Terry Grando of the Democratic Club said. “It’s very depressing to be in a war. You can’t celebrate.”

She gestured toward the pro-war crowd across the street in Thousand Oaks. “Are they celebrating something? Are they celebrating war?”

Meanwhile, in Ojai, five churches are ringing their bells 12 times at noon each day and adding one slow toll for each day the war continues.

“It’s in mourning for the dead,” said Clive Leeman, a Moorpark College teacher who is ringing the bell at St. Andrews Episcopal Church. Other churches participating are St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Joseph’s Christian Community Center, the Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross and Ojai Presbyterian.

Leeman, who also has been participating in a two-week candlelight peace vigil at Ojai’s Libbey Park, said he is encouraging other groups, schools and private citizens to ring bells or bang pans at noon.

Correspondent Thia Bell contributed to this report.